Search Tips

KEYWORD SEARCHAll multi-word keyword searches are treated as if the Boolean “OR” was between each term (servant OR grandpapa). Results will include quotes and letters where either one OR the other term is found. Searching for multiple keyword terms can be done by using the Boolean “AND” (servant AND grandpapa), with results containing both terms. To search for a phrase, “place it between quotes.” For example, to search for letters dated July 4 across all years, put “July 4” in the Keyword Search field.

The keyword search on this site searches content before it is rendered into html, and some results will not visibly contain the search term. When visible, search terms are highlighted in a yellow background.

COLLECTIONSIn Family Letters, a query will automatically search across all letters in the archive, but selecting one or more of these Collections will limit the search results by theme and/or date range.

QUOTE CATEGORIESThese categories make it easier to find quotes about particular subjects whether or not the specific word appears in the quote, but they will not produce quotes where the term has a different meaning. For example, selecting the category “Liberty” will bring up “we are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a feather-bed,” but will not include results such as “I take the liberty of informing you.”

AUTHORSOn the Family Letters search form, choosing one or more authors limits results to documents written by the selected author(s). Please note that not all authors in the archive are listed here. There are no letters written by Thomas Jefferson in this collection.

The option to choose an author on the Jefferson Quotes search form has been omitted, since most - but not all - of the quotes are by Jefferson (exceptions are Spurious Quotes and Quotes About Jefferson).

RECIPIENTSChoosing one or more recipients limits results to documents written by the selected recipient(s). Please note that not all recipients in the archive are listed here. There are no letters received by Thomas Jefferson in this collection.

REPOSITORIESRepositories are the holding institutions for the original manuscript copies of the documents transcribed and extracted in this collection. Choosing one or more repositories limits results to only those original manuscripts held by the selected institution(s). Please note that not all repositories used in this collection are included in this list.

DATESDate Range limits results to specific year spans. More than one date range can be selected.

Custom Dates offers the ability to search periods as short as one month. Dates are in the YYYY/MM format and days are automatically dropped. For example, using “1776-07-04” will prompt the search to drop “-04” and look at the entire month of July 1776.